President Roosevelt and the New Deal

The roaring 20’s was a time of optimism and prosperity in the United States. World War I had just finished and the country was starting to spread its wings and grow. Businesses and industries were growing and the country had plenty of jobs to go around. That is until the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, the roaring 20’s and the United States age of prosperity ended on Black Tuesday – October 29, 1929. That was the day that the U.S. Stock Market suffered its most dramatic one day loss in history. In the course of one day most Americans in one way or another were affected, and the economy suffered millions of dollars of losses.

Because of the stock market crash , businesses shut down or had massive layoffs, banks suffered a run on money with many banks closing and people, who were wealthy one day, were broke the next day. Many economists believe that the Stock Market Crash of 1929 was the starting point of The Great Depression.

The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930’s. The Great Depression had a wide ranging effect on people, both in the United States and around the world. The Depression had an impact on industries with many closing and others greatly reducing operations. With the decline in the industrial markets, many employees lost their jobs. The farming industry also was impacted because of crop prices dropping rapidly. Other industries suffering losses include farming, mining, logging and the financial markets.

With businesses closing and people losing jobs, families were suddenly not able to pay for housing and food to survive. A background check would find that many families found themselves homeless and unable to feed themselves because of the problems from the Great Depression. Families would try to survive anyway they could taking handouts for food and menial jobs to help make money.

During The Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover attempted to bring the country out of the economic problems by addressing the corporation’s problems. President Hoover and the government attempted to raise tariffs by acts such as the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act. However, the actions by Hoover did not help bring the country out of the Depression.

In 1934, Franklin Roosevelt was elected President of the United States. President Roosevelt vowed to solve the economic problems of the country. He began creating plans to assist businesses in getting back on their feet and to be able to hire people again. President Roosevelt was also looking for ways to help individuals and families. As a way to get the country back in business, President Roosevelt and his administration created The New Deal as a way to improve the economy.

The New Deal was a comprehensive package of programs to help the country recover from its economic problems. The New Deal saw the creation of the National Recovery Administration, Works Progress Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Social Security Act.

With The New Deal starting to improve the economy of the country, businesses started to grow, more employees were being hired and people started to buy houses. With more people working, more people started to buy goods and services, which helped the economy. President Roosevelt and his New Deal initiatives helped get the country back on its feet and end the Great Depression.